34 AMERICAN SPY
Just before our escape, though, I discovered that the Bosnian mole was
planning on getting out of Sarajevo with our convoy. If he learned that I
was joining the convoy, he could alert his masters and they’d be able to pull
me out at a roadblock, fake ID or no fake ID.
We decided that once the Bosnian spy entered our escape vehicle, we
would disarm him and not allow him to exit until we’d made it over Mount
Igman. We didn’t want to give him any opportunities to alert the Bosnian
security service of my unscheduled departure.
The night before bugging out, I briefed the newly arrived senior-
ranking civilian on the situation. We talked up on the flat, tiled roof of the
villa, to ensure our conversation could not be electronically monitored. The
glow from burning buildings, garbage dumpsters, and flares was the only
thing illuminating the blacked-out city at night. The locals had a name for
their eerie, incandescent sky: Sarajevo Red.
As I was wrapping up my briefing, tracer rounds began to whiz by, no
more than ten feet above our heads.
“Isn’t that a beautiful sight?” the senior civilian mused.
“No, it’s a dangerous sight,” I replied before ducking back downstairs.
We left the villa at 2:30 a.m., as planned, in an armored Toyota Land
Cruiser. As we pulled out of the silent, darkened compound, I was alert to
any signs of surveillance. The entire city was without power and blacked
out, and there were no cars on the road. We made it through several
Bosnian and UN checkpoints near Sarajevo’s airport without incident and
without any indications of surveillance. Our unarmed Bosnian spy was
buckled in and not going anywhere.
Then, just as we prepared to ascend Mount Igman, we were delayed
for two more nerve-wracking hours in the dark while incoming Bosnian
Army traffic cleared the checkpoints. By the time we were permitted to
proceed over Igman, the sun had begun to rise and with it the risk of
attracting Serb antiaircraft fire on the exposed dirt road. Because of
this peril, Mike considered heading back to the villa to try again the
next night.
I wasn’t keen on turning back. To do so would permit the Bosnian spy